An all-party group of MPs was asked yesterday for help in tackling deposit abuse in the Private Rented Sector by giving letting agents and their landlords an explicit choice. They can either meet the standards of an appropriate lettings industry body or hand over tenants' deposits to a mandatory custodial scheme run by a government body.

Speaking to the MPs at Westminster yesterday afternoon, Adrian Turner, Chief Executive of the Association of Residential Letting Agents, ARLA, said that it is imperative to frame legislation now and not to adopt the government's policy of "wait and see". The Tenancy Deposit Scheme backed by ARLA has well over 250 member offices already signed up and will be launched on 1st May.

"Legislation framed and laid now will be viewed as the crucial, definite government commitment to mandatory schemes," Adrian Turner told the MPs. "We can use this to convince letting agents of the need to sign up to a voluntary industry-wide independent scheme to help to isolate the cowboys."
Mr Turner rejected the suggestion from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister that delaying the introduction of legislation to stop deposit abuse would mean a proliferation of many different tenancy deposit schemes which would alleviate the need for legislation in the near future.

"I question whether this would be the case, given the practical requirements and experience needed to run these deposit schemes, and we believe that proliferation would lead to inconsistencies in controls and variable standards of performance. This would be bad for confidence in the Private Rented Sector and not serve the interest of tenants or landlords."

ARLA believes that legislation now will help to isolate cowboy agents as well as the many in the industry who do nothing but say, "Let's wait and see, it might never happen".

"ARLA is doing its bit and doing it now. There can be no denying that deposit abuse is a problem. We need to see action, not more words, and to make rapid progress towards a defence of the defenceless with the introduction of protection for tenant's deposits," Adrian Turner added.
In addition to ARLA, Shelter and Citizen's Advice also put their views to the MPs on containing deposit abuse.

Editors note: The ARLA-backed Tenancy Deposit Scheme for Regulated Agents provides independent resolution of disputes between landlords and tenants over damage and dilapidations, which is followed by the correct distribution of disputed deposit monies. This form of deposit resolution is for the use of landlords and tenants using regulated letting agents.

The custodial scheme will require that, where landlords or agents are not members of a tenancy deposit scheme, deposits will be held by a government-controlled body.